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But despite the best efforts of manager Danny Cowley, the players and the supporters who have opted not the boycott the tournament, one club alone cannot maintain the credibility of a competition that has been deeply unpopular with many fans ever since ‘under-21’ sides were allowed to enter.

The Foxes fielded a side containing £45million worth of talent, six first-team squad players and five players over the age of 21.

‘How can they do that?’ was the question being asked in the media room at Sincil Bank on Tuesday night.

But they could, it was entirely within the rules. The original idea of allowing Premier League and Championship clubs to enter teams in the competition was to allow young English players the chance to gain experience of senior football.

It was a well-meaning if misguided proposal, in my view. I can’t see how playing the odd game against League One and League Two sides in front of largely empty stadiums is going to enhance the first-team prospects of youngsters at the parent clubs.

The Premier League is not an English league anyone, it’s a world league, and I would suggest most top-flight clubs are not particularly interested in the development of English players for the long-term benefit of the national team.

There’s just too much money and too much impatience from chairmen and supporters for them to take a punt on promising players, unless they happen to be the English Messi or Ronaldo.

It’s a flawed policy as there are clearly plenty of cracking young English players out there. Just look at the success at recent age-group World Cups.